ISTANBUL

A Pakistani military officer was killed Monday during an operation against terrorists in northwestern Pakistan, the army said in a statement.

The military said Pakistani security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in the general area of Khar, Bajaur district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

During the operation, five “Indian-sponsored” terrorists were killed, but 36-year-old Major Adeel Zaman was also killed during the “intense fire exchange,” said the army.

India issued no immediate statement in response to the Pakistani army's allegations. In the past, New Delhi has denied such claims.

Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed terrorists, it said, adding that the “sanitization operations” are being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists.

The slain terrorists were “actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces and law enforcement agencies, as well as the killing of innocent civilians,” said the statement.

The security forces of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the “menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country,” it added.

According to an Islamabad-based think tank, Pakistan’s counterterrorism battlefield saw a marked escalation in 2025, with violence “intensifying in both tempo and lethality and pushing several indicators to their highest levels in years.”

The outgoing year “became the deadliest year” for terrorists since 2015, said the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) in its latest report released on Sunday.

It said fatalities included 2,115 terrorists, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians, and 28 members of pro-government peace committees (combatants).

“Combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73% to 3,387, compared with 1,950” last year, it added.